Post Doctoral Research Associate Job - Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences

Job description

The Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program at Princeton University seeks one or more outstanding postdoctoral research associates or more experienced research scientists to engage in research in one of several areas as outlined below. The research activities fall under a broad banner of decadal climate variability, predictability, and attribution. These appointments have the possibility to lead to long-term positions. The following research areas are especially relevant:

1. Decadal variability and predictability of the climate system
2. Detection and attribution of climate change
3. Coupled model initialization and parameter estimation
4. Assimilation of satellite data in a coupled model
5. Arctic climate processes and decadal variability
6. Fundamental problems in coupled atmosphere-ocean dynamics

The overall goals of the project are to (i) improve our understanding of the basic mechanisms of climate variability and the coupled atmosphere-ocean system in general, (ii) evaluate potential predictability of the climate system, (iii) better understand the mechanisms of observed changes through climate change detection and attribution studies, (iv) develop the necessary tools to make climate predictions starting from observed ocean states, (v) conduct ensembles of climate predictions starting from estimates of the observed state of the ocean. Interactions between variability, predictability, and changing radiative forcing will be a key focus. The research will make extensive use of both observations and a variety of modeling tools, including comprehensive global climate models developed at GFDL, and its ensemble coupled data assimilation system, that will be used in support of the IPCC AR5 report, as well as more idealized models and theory.

Requirements

The selected candidates will address one or more of the goals articulated above, and will have one or more of the following attributes:

1. a strong background in research on climate dynamics or a related field,
2. experience using and analyzing state of the art climate models,
3. a strong background in data assimilation and its use for climate prediction efforts,
4. strong diagnostic skills in analyzing large data sets, and/or
5. a theoretical background in ocean-atmosphere dynamics.

The position is open to both recent Ph.Ds, as well as candidates beyond the postdoctoral stage. Salary will be commensurate with experience.